{"id":2637,"date":"2018-06-22T00:42:24","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T22:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/netzwerk-homoeopathie.info\/?p=2637"},"modified":"2019-08-17T23:08:45","modified_gmt":"2019-08-17T21:08:45","slug":"frankreich-auf-der-ueberholspur-in-sachen-homoeopathie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/netzwerk-homoeopathie.info\/en\/frankreich-auf-der-ueberholspur-in-sachen-homoeopathie\/","title":{"rendered":"France: In the fast lane in the case of homeopathy"},"content":{"rendered":"Lesedauer \/ Reading Time:<\/span> 6<\/span> min<\/span><\/span>

The discussion about alternative medical methods in the health system, especially homeopathy, has quickly and apparently sustaining gained momentum in France.<\/h4>\n

\"\"We reported on the request of the National Council of the Medical Chamber of 22 March<\/a><\/strong> this year that the National Academy of Medical Sciences and the Ministry of Health should decide on the scientific relevance of “alternative and complementary methods, namely homeopathy”. This was flanked by the #FakeMed medical initiative<\/a><\/strong>, which strongly opposed pseudomedicine and all forms of its direct and indirect acceptance and promotion in health care.<\/p>\n

The public discussion – also in the media – was intensively taken up afterwards. Health Minister Buzyn, who had expressed herself somewhat indifferently<\/strong><\/a> in public after the National Council of the Medical Chamber’s call, came under fire. But even the dissenting votes were not long in coming: The homeopathy lobby in France began to target the physicians’ association #FakeMed as the supposedly weakest link in the chain of critics and to try to shift the matter to both a professional and a legal level. The press, including leading newspapers such as Lib\u00e9ration, Le Monde and Le Figaro, reported in part extensively.<\/p>\n

Le Monde stated on 25 May 2018<\/strong><\/a> that on 18 May the Academy of Medical Sciences, referring to its earlier opinion of 2004, described homeopathy as “a method developed two centuries ago on the basis of a priori concepts without any scientific basis”. This is not a direct verdict, but at least a very strong position setting, especially as an answer to the initiative of the Supreme Medical Chamber. Le Monde leaves no doubt that this verdict is tantamount to classifying homeopathy as “unscientific”. It might only be a side note that the Association of French Homeopathic Physicians, on the other hand, refers the EPI3 study financed by Boiron, on which we have already made comments here (a detailed discussion on EPI3 worth reading by Dr. Norbert Aust here<\/strong><\/a>).\u00a0 Le Monde refers to this without digression as a “bad study” and quotes the pharmacology professor Fran\u00e7ois Chast: “We are in the world of faith”.<\/p>\n

Now Le Figaro reports<\/strong><\/a> that the National Council of the Medical Association has for the first time positioned itself – with a new version of a part of the medical code of honour of the chambers, which – as Le Figaro finds – “does not completely close the door for homeopathy”, probably because of the concessions in complementary measures (which we consider problematic). But pseudomedical means and methods are distinguished from scientific medicine here with unprecedented clarity. The text leaves no doubt that the Chamber does not place it at the discretion of doctors to use unproven methods instead of scientifically proven therapies. This Decision is given below in translated form:<\/p>\n

Updating of the generally binding ethical framework by the National Council of the French Medical Chambers:<\/p>\n

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“The medial use of the terms “alternative and complementary medicine”, in particular with regard to homeopathy, maintains an ambiguity which leads to confusion and interpretation disputes.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Without questioning the freedom of critical or divergent opinions of each individual in the public sphere, the National Council of the Medical Association demands that the Medical Association should be able to take a more pro-active approach to the issue:<\/em><\/p>\n